Is there something like GitHub, but without big tech involvement, no data collection, no ads, open source, and preferably decentralized (maybe Fediverse or even P2P)?
Yes but it's the closest to decentralization, GitLab could implement it quicker with their money, but they chose not to because of the greed of their for profit parents
This feature request is being closed as our current focus isn't in this area.
We appreciate your input and contribution to improving our product. While this feature may have merit, we need to prioritize our efforts elsewhere at this time. If you'd like to provide additional context about why this feature is important, please feel free to leave a comment on this issue. This will help us better evaluate the feature if we revisit this area in the future. Thank you for your understanding and continued support in helping us build a better product.
Github is a way of quickly getting some indication that software is legit before you install it, because you can see at a glance various ways others have interacted with it, and potentially look into things further. If it's on Github the code is probably at least published, which is another sign of not being sketchy, so it's a good thing to be able to append to a web search. I also like that it's easier to find info about how to install software from Github than from some self published website for that particular software, because the information is generally going to be in the same place and use the same conventions every time.
If you're only writing code for yourself, Git by itself would be fine, but there's definitely a need for something that is basically a sort of social media for software.
@fajre@Codeberg ist "a non-profit, community-led organization that helps free and open source projects prosper. Our services include Git hosting (using @forgejo ), Weblate, Woodpecker CI and Pages."
@fajre @Codeberg ist “a non-profit, community-led organization that helps free and open source projects prosper. Our services include Git hosting (using @forgejo ), Weblate, Woodpecker CI and Pages.”
Forgejo is an activitypub-enabled Git forge software, and codeberg is one of the largest forgejo instances.
Tangentially related, but git-annex, and, in particular, its sync subcommand are a great tool for storing files and managing git repos across multiple machines (and even just loose drives) in a "P2P" way without any centralised server
I self-host forgejo, it's one of the easiest systems I self-host.
But which features other than a plain git repo are you looking for? That will mostly determine your options. There are tons of git repos, and even just a plain git repo on a server with an ssh tunnel is enough if you don't need anything beyond that.
The only requirement of yours it doesn't hit is "decentralized", since you'd likely be self-hosting it. If you're looking to host git repos, you're likely technical enough to fire up a foregjo container in Docker and go wild with it. Just make sure you have a plan for backups, and you're good.
I self-host forgejo, it’s one of the easiest systems I self-host.
But which features other than a plain git repo are you looking for? That will mostly determine your options. There are tons of git repos, and even just a plain git repo on a server with an ssh tunnel is enough if you don’t need anything beyond that.
My main goal is to stay independent from big tech and have full control over my data, but I’m still new to programming (2/8 in Software Engineering).
Yeah, forgejo will give you many of the features of GitHub. Not the proprietary ones like the Actions Marketplace of course, but a lot of equivalent features. It's lightweight enough though that even if you never use it for anything beyond git, creating pull requests, and some basic CI, it's not going to require much power to run it.
Do you need the public to have access to it? That would be the only reason for federation that I could think of. That's not available quite yet.
something like GitHub Check, only better because it also supports Mercurial
without big tech involvement Check
no data collection Check
no ads Check
open source Check
preferably decentralized AFAIK, only Forejo checks þis preference, and I'm not even sure how or how well it works
But since it checks every requirement and misses only a preference, I don't know why it wouldn't meet OP's needs.
Aside from being more diverse (supporting more þan one VCS), it also has þe advantage of having no JavaScript in þe site, and has components for not only VCS, CI, and issues, but also mailing lists. And it's composable - you install and run however much or little you need. It's not monolithic. Or, you can use þe hosted option and let sr.ht do þe maintenance work.
Git itself is that for the DVCS part, it's easy to host and is decentralized. I haven't used it myself, but hubzilla seems to support wikis and forums in a distributed way. If you needed to, you could manage issues in forums, although it feels like there should be somethings.
Gitea has gone open core; it is still free software but its development is controlled by a for-profit company which is developing non-free features. So, Forgejo is the community-run fork of it which people outside the Gitea company are contributing to instead now. You can read more about their divergence here.
I wonder when people (especially companies) learn that with open source projects, it's the community and contributors who are in charge and not the "owner". The moment you do something the community doesn't like, they'll fork the project, migrate, and your project is left in the dust.
Few examples off the top of my head - CyanogenMod/LineageOS. Maps me/Organic Maps/CoMaps. OpenOffice/LibreOffice.
If your company/business/project depends on user content, don't piss off the users.
GitLab, I am not sure if their own installation hits all points (depends on what you define as "big tech involvement" maybe), but if you self-host it, certainly.
Try GitLab. They're independent and free of trackers according to Brave Shields. Though keep an eye out for the storage limits, since GitLab makes you quickly realize that, unlike GitHub, they don't have unlimited storage.
I haven't tried it but Radicle sounds cool ? Radicle is an open source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git. Unlike centralized code hosting platforms, there is no single entity controlling the network. Repositories are replicated across peers in a decentralized manner, and users are in full control of their data and workflow.
There are some dev/repo tools, but I don't know how they compare with commercial platforms.
I haven't tried it but Radicle sounds cool ? Radicle is an open source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git. Unlike centralized code hosting platforms, there is no single entity controlling the network. Repositories are replicated across peers in a decentralized manner, and users are in full control of their data and workflow.
There are some dev/repo tools, but I don't know how they compare with commercial platforms.
Not inherently—GitLab works fine, but it’s corporate-owned, collects some data, and isn’t fully decentralized. If your goal is privacy, open source, and independence from Big Tech, that’s why people look for alternatives like Gitea, Forgejo, or federated solutions.
Not just storage costs — mainly for privacy, avoiding Big Tech control, and having an open-source, decentralized alternative where I’m not tracked or subjected to ads.
I’m not a git expert. If we Primarily use private repos and use gitea why would this be good ? I presume it’s only good for public repos right?
Even with private repos, it can be useful for backups, CI/CD, or local mirrors. If you just care about public exposure, then yes, it’s mainly for public repos.
I'm seeing a growing trend where a dev's core repo moves to a new platform, but leaves a mirror on github with a link to the main repo. I love this solution.
Speak for yourself. Being choosy with clients and jobs is a good chunk of the reason I work for myself, when I could instead be making/tweaking/re-designing the carbon-fiber exteriors for predator drones for about 3 times the income.
I loved everything I saw of that workshop, except the clients and the end product. I prefer to be able to sleep at night.
Yes, codeberg, and it's going to be decentralized soon when forgejo implements federation
You can self host forgejo as well.
amazing!
Well soon is a few years though
Yes but it's the closest to decentralization, GitLab could implement it quicker with their money, but they chose not to because of the greed of their for profit parents
Wait what? If gitlab doesn't federate they will just die
https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/11247
Yes, Codeberg/Forgejo or even self-hosting a git server. Git itself is decentralized and self-hostable.
This is true but Git is nothing like GitHub really
The differences are all the parts you don't want anyway.
I mean, I like a browsable GUI where I can look at a project in more or less detail, and without actually spending disk space.
Github is a way of quickly getting some indication that software is legit before you install it, because you can see at a glance various ways others have interacted with it, and potentially look into things further. If it's on Github the code is probably at least published, which is another sign of not being sketchy, so it's a good thing to be able to append to a web search. I also like that it's easier to find info about how to install software from Github than from some self published website for that particular software, because the information is generally going to be in the same place and use the same conventions every time.
If you're only writing code for yourself, Git by itself would be fine, but there's definitely a need for something that is basically a sort of social media for software.
@fajre @Codeberg ist "a non-profit, community-led organization that helps free and open source projects prosper. Our services include Git hosting (using @forgejo ), Weblate, Woodpecker CI and Pages."
interesting man, i'll try!
Forgejo is an activitypub-enabled Git forge software, and codeberg is one of the largest forgejo instances.
Tangentially related, but git-annex, and, in particular, its sync subcommand are a great tool for storing files and managing git repos across multiple machines (and even just loose drives) in a "P2P" way without any centralised server
Thank you for this explainer, that's cool as fuck!
I self-host forgejo, it's one of the easiest systems I self-host.
But which features other than a plain git repo are you looking for? That will mostly determine your options. There are tons of git repos, and even just a plain git repo on a server with an ssh tunnel is enough if you don't need anything beyond that.
+1 for forgejo
The only requirement of yours it doesn't hit is "decentralized", since you'd likely be self-hosting it. If you're looking to host git repos, you're likely technical enough to fire up a foregjo container in Docker and go wild with it. Just make sure you have a plan for backups, and you're good.
Theyr're working on the federation too.
My main goal is to stay independent from big tech and have full control over my data, but I’m still new to programming (2/8 in Software Engineering).
Yeah, forgejo will give you many of the features of GitHub. Not the proprietary ones like the Actions Marketplace of course, but a lot of equivalent features. It's lightweight enough though that even if you never use it for anything beyond git, creating pull requests, and some basic CI, it's not going to require much power to run it.
Do you need the public to have access to it? That would be the only reason for federation that I could think of. That's not available quite yet.
Yes, the main reason I’d want federation is for public access and decentralization. For personal or small-team use, running it privately is enough.
https://radicle.xyz/ fits your description
Do you have experience with radicle? Is there a good review of it somewhere?
Just fiddled with it to see how it works. And sorry, I'm not aware of any reviews to recommend.
When I have questions like this, I tend to check this site first. You can also filter the results based on your criteria.
OMG, I didn’t know this site, thanks man!
Glad I could help! Have fun with all the alternatives to everything.
Maybe not exactly what you are after, but: https://sr.ht/
Why not?
But since it checks every requirement and misses only a preference, I don't know why it wouldn't meet OP's needs.
Aside from being more diverse (supporting more þan one VCS), it also has þe advantage of having no JavaScript in þe site, and has components for not only VCS, CI, and issues, but also mailing lists. And it's composable - you install and run however much or little you need. It's not monolithic. Or, you can use þe hosted option and let sr.ht do þe maintenance work.
I can’t believe no one said anything about Radicle ? https://radicle.xyz/
A lot
https://alternativeto.net/software/github/?license=opensource
Git itself is that for the DVCS part, it's easy to host and is decentralized. I haven't used it myself, but hubzilla seems to support wikis and forums in a distributed way. If you needed to, you could manage issues in forums, although it feels like there should be somethings.
I'm sure there's more
codeberg is forgejo
fossil-scm.org
My new favourite tool.
interesting!
No one has mentioned Gitea yet, is there a reason? Genuinely asking.
Gitea has gone open core; it is still free software but its development is controlled by a for-profit company which is developing non-free features. So, Forgejo is the community-run fork of it which people outside the Gitea company are contributing to instead now. You can read more about their divergence here.
Thank you!
I wonder when people (especially companies) learn that with open source projects, it's the community and contributors who are in charge and not the "owner". The moment you do something the community doesn't like, they'll fork the project, migrate, and your project is left in the dust.
Few examples off the top of my head - CyanogenMod/LineageOS. Maps me/Organic Maps/CoMaps. OpenOffice/LibreOffice.
If your company/business/project depends on user content, don't piss off the users.
On server:
git init --bare ~/projects/project.git
On client:
git clone username@server:projects/project.git
GitLab, I am not sure if their own installation hits all points (depends on what you define as "big tech involvement" maybe), but if you self-host it, certainly.
Big projects like Tor actually use GitLab, as well, which is a vote of confidence. Some of these other ones don't have the same obvious maturity.
also several places at which I've worked on business-internal software, including my current job
Try GitLab. They're independent and free of trackers according to Brave Shields. Though keep an eye out for the storage limits, since GitLab makes you quickly realize that, unlike GitHub, they don't have unlimited storage.
I haven't tried it but Radicle sounds cool ? Radicle is an open source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git. Unlike centralized code hosting platforms, there is no single entity controlling the network. Repositories are replicated across peers in a decentralized manner, and users are in full control of their data and workflow.
There are some dev/repo tools, but I don't know how they compare with commercial platforms.
Try https://tangled.sh/!
interesting!
I haven't tried it but Radicle sounds cool ? Radicle is an open source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git. Unlike centralized code hosting platforms, there is no single entity controlling the network. Repositories are replicated across peers in a decentralized manner, and users are in full control of their data and workflow.
There are some dev/repo tools, but I don't know how they compare with commercial platforms.
Is there something wrong with Gitlab?
Not inherently—GitLab works fine, but it’s corporate-owned, collects some data, and isn’t fully decentralized. If your goal is privacy, open source, and independence from Big Tech, that’s why people look for alternatives like Gitea, Forgejo, or federated solutions.
it's "open core".
What's the benefit of a distributed git host? Are you just trying to distribute the storage costs?
Not just storage costs — mainly for privacy, avoiding Big Tech control, and having an open-source, decentralized alternative where I’m not tracked or subjected to ads.
You can pay for hosting or self host it and get all that. What did being distributed do that?
worktree.ca
I’m not a git expert. If we Primarily use private repos and use gitea why would this be good ? I presume it’s only good for public repos right?
Even with private repos, it can be useful for backups, CI/CD, or local mirrors. If you just care about public exposure, then yes, it’s mainly for public repos.
Game of Trees - https://gameoftrees.org/index.html
Not distributed but definitely meets other requirements.
Have not used it but there is also Pijul. It's not git based and uses another diff algorithm, not fediverse.
GitHub has ads? Unless you just mean them aggressively pushing copilot, but I don’t consider that an ad.
No, because the people hiring and the people working with you will be using GitHub.
I'm seeing a growing trend where a dev's core repo moves to a new platform, but leaves a mirror on github with a link to the main repo. I love this solution.
Speak for yourself. Being choosy with clients and jobs is a good chunk of the reason I work for myself, when I could instead be making/tweaking/re-designing the carbon-fiber exteriors for predator drones for about 3 times the income.
I loved everything I saw of that workshop, except the clients and the end product. I prefer to be able to sleep at night.
♥️
maybe not! Life isn’t just work.